Gurgaon woman faces mob intimidation for feeding community dogs

Gurgaon: A 50-year-old woman endured a distressing ordeal late on Tuesday night when a mob of 30-40 fellow residents gathered outside her home in Sector 50, shouting aggressively and threatening her with dire consequences if she continued feeding the community dogs in the housing society.The woman, Alka Tyagi, a resident South City 2, subsequently filed a police complaint against what she described as mob intimidation, criminal threats and unlawful assembly, submitting video evidence and seeking protection from further harassment. Videos circulating on social media show a man carrying a baseball bat before being stopped by a female resident, as several others engaged in heated arguments and urged Tyagi to stop feeding the dogs. Another woman is seen with folded hands, pleading for the feeding to cease, claiming that it's not permitted inside the housing society. In her complaint to the station house officer of sector 50 police station, Tyagi wrote, "A group of residents from my block gathered outside my house and began shouting aggressively. The mob threatened me with dire consequences if I continued to feed three community (stray) dogs that live in my lane. These dogs are peaceful and have been residing in this area for a considerable period. I have been regularly feeding them as an act of compassion and civic responsibility." She added, "Their conduct amounts to criminal intimidation and unlawful assembly. I wish to state clearly that I have not violated any law; on the contrary, my actions are protected under Article 51A(g) of the Constitution of India, which enjoins upon every citizen the duty to have compassion for living creatures. Moreover, as per the recent judgments of the Supreme Court of India, no dogs can be relocated from a housing society and citizens are allowed to feed community dogs in designated feeding areas, which the local RWA has yet to identify." In fact, the alleged trigger for the mob's anger was a recent incident in the housing society in which an unidentified stray dog allegedly chased a resident. "The dog in question was not one of the community dogs I feed regularly. Moreover, the local RWA has not yet designated any feeding areas for stray dogs, leading to human-animal conflict," Tyagi alleged in her complaint. Sukhbir, SHO of Sector 50 police station, said a complaint has been filed, following which police intervened and warned the residents. "No case has been registered yet. We will take appropriate action after an enquiry," he said. Navdeep Yadav, RWA president of South City 2, said he was unaware of the incident. "It's difficult to implement such directions in colonies like ours. We have both animal lovers and residents who don't want strays inside the locality. In gated societies, there are common areas, but ours is a large colony, and if we identify a specific feeding point, some residents may raise objections. So far, no such issue has been brought to me. If there are any concerns, we will sit together and find a solution so that no one faces any inconvenience," he said.